Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Of all the oakmoss absolutes I've smelled, and all the oakmoss drydowns I've smelled, the one that smelled closest to a natural Oakmoss soliflore drydown, was the 1993 formulation of "Jacques Fath Green Water". A very interesting and high quality green scent that i describe in detail in one of the "green" thread titles. It's somewhat of an earthier selection verte.

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Tesla, you may want to investigate AbdesSalaam Attar Profumo Oak Moss--it is all natural, so certainly will contain the real thing.

There are still quite a few commercial fragrances that contain oakmoss--they just restrict the quantity. The most oakmoss-heavy contemporary scent I have is Miller Harris Cuir d'Oranger. Other frags that have it in smaller quantities include Chanel No.19 and Hermes Eau d'Orange Verte.

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Originally Posted by SculptureOfSoul

C&S's Oxford and Cambridge has a lot of real oakmoss in the drydown. It blends beautifully with the lavender.

I notice both of my recently purchased bottles of No. 88 and Frankincense and Myrrh have oakmoss extract listed in the ingredients. Will these be replaced soon or is a little bit of oakmoss ok with the new rules?

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

^ it's not completely prohibited, just restricted.

I retested Armani's Oranger (whatever the next word is) and, now that Chanel Pour Monsieur has been tampered with, a good alternative. Not sure if there's much oakmoss in there, but they've given a good impression that there is.

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Originally Posted by sofresh

^ it's not completely prohibited, just restricted.

You´re right, it´s not prohibited, but restricted - limited up to 0,1% in the finished product. Vintage Mitsouko is told to have about 5%!!
So, there is no kingdom for oakmoss and treemoss left, just a little, very little county!

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

I've asked this question before on the Make Yer Own threads, but I'm not sure I've ever gotten a completely straight answer. What would happen if you just bought by-God oakmoss absolute and added it to the modern version of Mitouko, for instance? Wd you end up with something closer to the original or would you unbalance the frag in nasty ways?

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Originally Posted by Strollyourlobster

I've asked this question before on the Make Yer Own threads, but I'm not sure I've ever gotten a completely straight answer. What would happen if you just bought by-God oakmoss absolute and added it to the modern version of Mitouko, for instance? Wd you end up with something closer to the original or would you unbalance the frag in nasty ways?

Not if you decant several equal amounts of your target frag & mixed with the oakmoss in varying percentages. This will give the opportunity to test each 'concentration' to render the one you like best. Word of advice - let your mix(es) sit for at least a week, with intermittent shakes so the oakmoss can integrate. It works.

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Originally Posted by SoGent

Not if you decant several equal amounts of your target frag & mixed with the oakmoss in varying percentages. This will give the opportunity to test each 'concentration' to render the one you like best. Word of advice - let your mix(es) sit for at least a week, with intermittent shakes so the oakmoss can integrate. It works.

Hmmm- excellent food for thought. Line up for 'homemade Mitsouko - original and best ! Like moonlighting !

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Be warned that oakmoss EO is VERY concentrated stuff. I have good quality oil, sourced out of Yugoslavia, Evernia Prunastri . I took a pin and put two tiny micro-dots in a simmering potpourri of water, about 3 tbsp. Well, that filled the room with a deep woody mossy smell. For my nose, it got overwhelmingly rich after a while (and I like oakmoss). So my point is that you might have to do a tincture of a tincture to get the level down to what you'd have in a bottle.

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Originally Posted by sables

You´re right, it´s not prohibited, but restricted - limited up to 0,1% in the finished product. Vintage Mitsouko is told to have about 5%!!
So, there is no kingdom for oakmoss and treemoss left, just a little, very little county!

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

I'd recommend Frederic Malle's Vetiver Extraordinaire. It had been sitting unused for some time now but yesterday I just had on one spritz on one lower arm / elbow region yesterday morning. Well into the afternoon, a co-worker (with a very good nose) came over and said whatever I had on was very good. VE has a very sizable dose of Evernia Prunastri extract which is the real thing, i.e. oakmoss. You really should try it if you haven't.

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Originally Posted by Delmar

I'd recommend Frederic Malle's Vetiver Extraordinaire. It had been sitting unused for some time now but yesterday I just had on one spritz on one lower arm / elbow region yesterday morning. Well into the afternoon, a co-worker (with a very good nose) came over and said whatever I had on was very good. VE has a very sizable dose of Evernia Prunastri extract which is the real thing, i.e. oakmoss. You really should try it if you haven't.

I didn't realize this. That may be why I liked this one so much right away. I thought it was one the best vetivers out there. It certainly is velvety smooth and deep!

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Well, the reason that is so because the ultimate limitation is 0.1% of the final product.

So, let's just compare some numbers...

Let's say we have oakmoss at 5% of the perfume concentrate. What percent is that of the final product? Well, that depends on the dilution level of the perfume concentrate. Let's do some math*:

EdC concentration - 3% perfume oil to 97% alcohol. Let's assume this is a 100ml bottle. 3% of 100ml is 3ml, so there is 3ml of juice, total. Now, 5% of that (the oakmoss) = 3 * .05 which = 0.15ml. That's the amount of actual pure oakmoss in the bottle. But what percentage is that of 100ml? Well, 100ml = 100% of the product so .15ml = 0.15%. That's still too high. With a dilution of 3% perfume oils, we could only use 3.33% oakmoss to end up at the 0.1% of final product IFRA limitation.

If we have an EdT at 10% dilution, we can only use 1% oakmoss in the perfume concentrate to = 0.1% of the final product.

If we have a EdP at 20% dilution, we can only use 0.5% oakmoss in the perfume concentrate to stay within the IFRA limits.

As you can see, the higher the ratio of perfume oil to alcohol (the higher the concentration), the lower the amount of oakmoss in the concentrate has to be.

*The easier math is to just multiply out 3% * 5% (.03 * .05) to arrive at the .15% number (.03 * .05 = 0.0015 = .15%) but as this is not as illustrative of the concept I went with the more long-winded version shown above.

Re: Oakmoss, My kingdom for Oakmoss.

Received my Mousse de Chene by L'Aromarine today. At first what registered was mainly lemon. I had expected something that smelled woody and so I was at first not clear that I even had the right stuff. As it dried down it developed in a couple ways. One is it turned a bit salty, and I recognized that salty facet of several florals that I love, particularly Bandit and Odalisque. It also developed a kind of soapy/loamy/powdery thing. It's very complex and pleasant but also a good deal more shrill than what I had imagined. I suppose I was expecting something that behaved more like a basenote and smelled more like forest floor. What I got--and of course I have no idea what's actually in the stuff--remains almost citric, pungent, along with the other qualities I've described.
The other thing that seems clear is that one aspect of several very dear eau de colognes that I had thought was rose, is mostly oakmoss. I'm thinking of Chanel Pour Homme, Monsieur de Givenchy, and Acqua di Parma Colonia in particular, but lots of others. Also helped me make sense of a weird note that had always bothered me in Azzaro pour Homme.
Clearly I'm going to have to get some of the solid and dilute my own to finally know what it smells like, but do I seem to be describing oakmoss, those of you who know?

Received my Mousse de Chene by L'Aromarine today. At first what registered was mainly lemon. I had expected something that smelled woody and so I was at first not clear that I even had the right stuff. As it dried down it developed in a couple ways. One is it turned a bit salty, and I recognized that salty facet of several florals that I love, particularly Bandit and Odalisque. It also developed a kind of soapy/loamy/powdery thing. It's very complex and pleasant but also a good deal more shrill than what I had imagined. I suppose I was expecting something that behaved more like a basenote and smelled more like forest floor. What I got--and of course I have no idea what's actually in the stuff--remains almost citric, pungent, along with the other qualities I've described.
The other thing that seems clear is that one aspect of several very dear eau de colognes that I had thought was rose, is mostly oakmoss. I'm thinking of Chanel Pour Homme, Monsieur de Givenchy, and Acqua di Parma Colonia in particular, but lots of others. Also helped me make sense of a weird note that had always bothered me in Azzaro pour Homme.
Clearly I'm going to have to get some of the solid and dilute my own to finally know what it smells like, but do I seem to be describing oakmoss, those of you who know?